YARCOMBE PARISH COUNCIL MINUTES
Held in The Jubilee Hall, Yarcombe, Monday 4th June 2018 at 8.00 pm
In Attendance:
Cllrs L Pidgeon (Vice-Chair), C Stone, T Long, S Horner, S Parris, T Wiggins, S-J Martin (Clerk & RFO)
Members of the Public present – 5
1. Apologies for Absence:
Cllrs N Randle D Barnes and T Wiggins (T Wiggins did attend) and Maggie Lane
2. Declarations of Interest
Declarations of Interest were received from Cllrs S Parris and M Tomkinson.
3. Minutes.
The Councillors were asked if they were happy that the Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held on Monday 5th April were a correct record and they were duly signed.
4. Parish Council Priorities
Any additional comments concerning our meeting with the younger generation of the Parish, before the meeting:
There were a lot of “littlelies”, and about 12 in attendance with their Parents. Areas of discussion which came up were as follows:
• A playpark or playing area with a garden
• Sports teams for cricket or football, girls football was very high on the Agenda.
There are sports pitches at other villages locally and Stockland and Upottery have teams which our youngsters may be able to join.
Resolved – It was agreed we will write to the 2 schools to see if they are interested and what activities may be available to join.
• The tennis court was also discussed with the thought of covering it with a soft rubber cover/multi surface so it could be used for a variety of uses. Paul Diviani advised there is a MUGA (Multi Use Games Area) cover, which is a synthetic covering used for all year-round activities.
• Other activities raised are a family Summer BBQ, a Fete, a Teddy Bear Picnic, Duck Race, Pantomime and a Pirate Day to celebrate Sir Francis Drakes connection with the village.
• How to reach out to the youngsters and keep them informed was also discussed and the options of Facebook and particularly Instagram key.
Resolved – Clerk to look at the possibilities of running a YPC Instagram and Facebook Page
It was also decided to look at holding a duck race (as Lesley has ducks) and Caroline Ford very kindly offered the use of her lake.
Resolved – It was decided to offer the ducks and suggestion to the Children’s Fund and Clerk will email.
Resolved – To write to the Mothers in attendance and let them know how we got on and also summarise for a piece to go into the e-voices, asking if there would be any volunteers.
5.a Discussions of Comments from Parishioners re Highways and Local Concerns
It was decided to defer the discussion until the July meeting. Councillors were asked to read the Addendum of Parishioners comments in readiness for the next meeting.
Cllr Horner advised the Yarcombe Estate has already spent over £2,000.00 in Solicitors fees concerning Clifthayne Lane. There has been a recent incident concerning a milk tanker getting stuck in Clifthayne Lane after it couldn’t get through Coburns Lane.
The Estate suggests we write to the Council and ask if it an adopted road and if note, to write to our MP. Cllr Diviani advised he is seeing our MP in London and he could mention something.
5.b Open Session for Public Participation
Miranda thanked everyone very much for her award of the John Salter Award for her voluntary work and said she was “touched and overwhelmed” on receiving it.
Cllr Pidgeon stated on behalf of us all, that the recognition is well overdue and Cllr Diviani agreed, stating Miranda is a worthy recipient of the first award.
6. Finance
a. Received the Clerks report on the current Financial Position.
Cllr Tomkinson advised of the £1,986.67 monies allocated for P3 expenditure, £1300/£1400 is scheduled to be spent.
b. Approves payments in line with the schedule in the Clerks Report.
c. The Accounting Statements were considered and approved by Resolution and the Accounting Statements were signed:
1. The Councillors Certified Yarcombe Parish Council has having less than £25,000.00 income for the last financial year and therefore Certified that the Council is exempt from the External Audit requirements. Completion of the Certificate of Exemption was carried out.
2. Section 1 of the Annual Governance Statement was approved before approving Section 2 Accounting Statements. Minute Reference – YPC Meeting 04.06.18 6 Finance.c.2
7. Reports received:
– County Councillor
Cllr Chubb was not in attendance.
– District Councillor
Cllr Paul Diviani wasn’t able to report on what was happening in County but is aware of the Parishioners comments about the roads locally.
He reported the new HQ in Honiton is coming on and at last count the build is just a week behind schedule. Additionally, that the County is doing incredibly well with waste recycling and are in the top 2 or 3 in the Country.
Cllr Diviani’s initiative for “Making it Local”, a local funding scheme for projects is also doing well.
Cllr Tomkinson raised the issue of Insurance to cover damage instigated over farmers land when footpaths, being the responsibility YPC have been used and walkers have caused damage to the land.
Cllr Diviani responded that technically it is a County matter and is the Council is responsible for damage then they are liable. Maggie said how can we prove someone left a gate open and a discussion was held that a farmer can not stop a walker using a footpath and that more and more self-closing gates would have to be installed.
Resolved – It was decided to write to Cllr Chubb and ask where the legal responsibilities lie.
Caroline Ford advised it is a big issue on her land where walkers go through the gate and do not use the style and therefore so not stick to the designated footpath.
Resolved – We shall write to the Ramblers asking them to remind all walkers of the importance of closing gates and put a notice in the Yarcombe Voices “A Notice to Summertime Walkers”.
– Police
• One crime was reported, being a case of Harassment, a breach of a restraining order. We are also reminded of “Devon Alert”, a subscription notification system of alerting Subscribers to incidents in our area. https://alerts.dc.police.uk/
– Yarcombe Community Land Trust
• Cllr Horner advised the land at Marsh, identified for the placement of 6 affordable homes is looking very positive. There will need to be a new Housing Needs Survey as the previous survey covered the period from 2012-2017. Everyone will be asked to please complete it and it is imperative as many people as possible do so as for the venture to proceed, it needs to establish that there is an affordable housing need in the area. The houses will also remain in the property of The Trust/Parish, in perpetuity and will therefore be for rent only.
• Miranda kindly offered a special edition of the Voices.
• The Survey will be strictly confidential and nothing to do with Yarcombe Parish Council.
• It was confirmed the Survey will be paper based with self-addressed return envelopes.
– Reports from Individual Councillors
• Cllr Horner accepts the position of the role of Blackdown Hills & Conservation for the next 12 months.
• Cllr Tomkinson requests the permission of the Councillors to proceed with the installation of another self-closing gate which was agreed, and the existing wooden 5 bar gate would be offered to the land owner for a small donation to the Parish Council as the gate was originally funded through YPC.
• Clerk was asked if there had been any response concerning cutting the grass in Yarcombe but there hadn’t, and it was raised that the grass at Stopgate needed cutting as it was dangerous exiting the junction and the area of grass outside the Old School needed attending to
Resolved – Clerk to email highways. Since the meeting, highways have cut these areas.
Caroline Ford mentioned the junction at Stopgate in that the paving seems too high and is quite dangerous should you need to turn into the junction tightly and asked if it could be lowered. This has been raised with highways before, but we shall mention it again.
Resolved – Clerk to email Highways and mention the cleaning of the signs.
– The Clerks Report
• The Evolis Radar Speed Sign details – Clerk to ask for some more details
• The Neighbourhood Plan, Dark Sky Policy – Concerns have been raised by locals about the light on the Yarcombe Inn which is quite intrusive and exceptionally bright. There is another light on the entrance to the village which is in the line of sight for drivers.
Resolved – Clerk to write to Mr and Mrs Woods asking that the light may be tilted down wards or the bulb wattage lowered to alleviate this problem and put a note in the Autumn Voices, asking everyone to consider their neighbours with the position and brightness of lighting.
• “Please Close the Gate” signs – these were considered but numbers would need to be obtained and they could be price prohibitive.
• John Carter has enquired if the Parish Council would be willing to help fund the publication of the John Salter book, in readiness for the July village market. The cost will be £700.00, and they are asking for a contribution soon to meet the deadline.
Resolved – It was decided the books ought to be sold at a profit to cover the cost of the print and as the Village Hall will receive the proceeds of the sale, the village hall ought to fund the publication and the Clerk will let John Carter know.
9. Planning
To receive and endorse the Planning Decisions of the Council taken since last meeting under delegated authority:
Cllr Long reported he had attended an Est Devon Planning meeting which was hijacked by the larger Councils. Topics included how Whitehall are giving direct permission to build and that even though the Neighbourhood plans are in place, planning officers are failing to consult the contents of the plan.
GDPR is being blamed for the reason telephone numbers are not being held for applicants of planning permission which means it is often now not possible to let a home owner know there will be a planning inspection and instead, the Councillors will have to turn up unannounced.
Any Other Business:
Cllr Tomkinson asked if we can put a notice in the Voices abut Maggie Lane being nominated as an Arts Champion.
To confirm the date of the next meeting being Monday 2nd July at 8pm in The Jubilee Hall, Yarcombe